My Michelia Alba trees...about 50 of them surrounding my mountain rest house...are now in bloom.
Such heavenly scent to die for!...
I wish I knew how to extract their oil essence so I could have my own "Joy" perfumery ! LOL
Does anyone know the home basics of doing so?
Here's a link for anyone who wants to know more about this fragrant tree :
http://www.mgonlinestore.com/Alba/
This message was edited May 21, 2011 11:39 AM
Beautiful balaitalisai....I have just 1 Michelia Alba tree in a pot that just finished blooming. I can imagine (dream) what 50 of them surrounding a house would be like. They smell delicious!
As for capturing scents, try contacting Kalpavriksha on the forums I know he has posted a few times in the fragrant gardening forums: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1103067/
Samantha
Beautiful tree and blooms!
These links may help with essential oil extraction:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4961918_extract-essential-oils-scents-flowers.html
http://www.essential-oil-recipes.com/essential-oil-extraction.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_oil
http://store.prostores.com/oneplanet/distillation.htm
http://www.bio-byte.com/articles/MakePerfume_03.shtml
Thanks, Samantha and Metro for your leads...I will try to experiment on essential oil extraction.
I was awed, though, at the amount of petals ,( in kilos at that! ), needed just to extract a miniscule amount of oil...
Even with the number of trees I have in my property ( see picture), I may not be able to produce an iota of essential oil at all.
At any rate, no harm in trying..:)
This message was edited May 19, 2011 11:25 PM
I wonder if the needed petals for oil extraction have to come only from opened flowers...would buds do as well?
With just the first few rains of May ( start of the wet season in my country), even the lower new branches have produced flowers.
I may have to wait till all trees are in bloom to get those needed kilos of petals...
Aloha Baliatalisai,
Your garden is a sight to behold! I can't imagine how wonderful it must smell with all those blooms! I have one little bush that Carol brought over from the Big Island for me, but it has not come into flower yet this year - I wonder if I will live long enough to see it get to the size of your trees!
Thanks for posting!
Gorgeous!!!
Thanks, Braveheartsmom and Pepper!
This blooming champaca tree in the picture is at level with the tree house built amidst that plant arbor which I also posted .
In the tree house is a native hammock where one can fall asleep, lulled by the scented breeze.
I am glad that what I initially thought would be a crazy plant arbor has turned out to be a secret afternoon lullaby hut !.
Cheers!
It gets even better.....it really sounds like heaven in that tree house with all those perfumed trees.....thank you for sharing.
How lush and beautiful your garden is. I can't even imagine how wonderful the fragrance is from 50 Michelia Albas!!
My Alba comes in September-- I can't wait! Just don't know where to plant it--or leave it in a pot! Any Ideas!
My alba always seems to have some flowers on it, there's always some fragrance lingering.
